Wearable tech used to be cool, but it is slowly becoming a symbol of surveillance capitalism dreck — here's how to save it

Google Fitbit Air, Meta Glasses, Apple Watch Ultra.

I'm not sure what tipped me off first, but as someone who writes about wearable technology for a living, I can definitely see the signs. Wearables are, frankly, uncool, and manufacturers have to work to make them cool again by earning back their customers' trust and embracing the sense of fun we used to have.

Maybe it was the celebrities that clued me in — millennials, Gen Z and Gen X alike — when they were sparking trends for wired headphones and digital Casio watches, a conscious symbol of Big Tech rejection that's carried over from the resurgence of vinyl and cassettes. I'm now seeing plenty of people around my local town opting for wired headphones over earbuds and AirPods. While there are still plenty of smartwatches on wrists every day, I'm noticing stylish people are returning to rotary, analog, and digital.